Before we dive headfirst into the real meat of this article, let’s first begin with a bit of background regarding the crimes of burglary and robbery. Otherwise, some of you who use social media sites and/or watching TV news and crime dramas as your main sources of research, may not know that burglary and robbery are not the same. Not even close.

I know, we’ve discussed this topic in the past, in great detail, but sometimes we forget.

Just today, if fact, a major news source published an article titled “British Olympian says medals were stolen from her home in robbery.”

I read the article thinking I’d see where the unfortunate female athlete was held up at gunpoint in her own home while the armed and dangerous bad guys forcibly snatched her precious awards and other items. This would’ve been a robbery. However, it was not a robbery.

The first paragraph tells readers that the distance runner received the news that her home had been ransacked while she was away. The family member who discovered the mess had gone to the house to check on the Olympian’s dog. This act was a burglary.

See the difference between the two crimes? This is yet another example of how the media so often gets it wrong?

So let’s again clear the air about the differences between the two crimes.

Burglary as defined by Black’s Law Dictionary: “The breaking and entering the house of another in the night-time, with intent to commit a felony therein, whether the felony be actually committed or not.”

In Virginia, where I served as law enforcement officer/investigator, the law governing burglary there in the Commonwealth, states:

§ 18.2-89. Burglary; how punished.

If any person break and enter the dwelling house of another in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony or any larceny therein, he shall be guilty of burglary, punishable as a Class 3 felony; provided, however, that if such person was armed with a deadly weapon at the time of such entry, he shall be guilty of a Class 2 felony.§ 18.2-90. Entering dwelling house, etc., with intent to commit murder, rape, robbery or arson; penalty.If any person in the nighttime enters without breaking or in the daytime breaks and enters or enters and conceals himself in a dwelling house or an adjoining, occupied outhouse or in the nighttime enters without breaking or at any time breaks and enters or enters and conceals himself in any building permanently affixed to realty, or any ship, vessel or river craft or any railroad car, or any automobile, truck or trailer, if such automobile, truck or trailer is used as a dwelling or place of human habitation, with intent to commit murder, rape, robbery or arson in violation of §§ 18.2-77, 18.2-79 or § 18.2-80, he shall be deemed guilty of statutory burglary, which offense shall be a Class 3 felony. However, if such person was armed with a deadly weapon at the time of such entry, he shall be guilty of a Class 2 felony.

VA Code § 18.2-91

If any person commits any of the acts mentioned in § 18.2-90 with intent to commit larceny, or any felony other than murder, rape, robbery or arson in violation of §§ 18.2-77, 18.2-79 or § 18.2-80, or if any person commits any of the acts mentioned in § 18.2-89 or § 18.2-90 with intent to commit assault and battery, he shall be guilty of statutory burglary, punishable by confinement in a state correctional facility for not less than one or more than twenty years or, in the discretion of the jury or the court trying the case without a jury, be confined in jail for a period not exceeding twelve months or fined not more than $2,500, either or both. However, if the person was armed with a deadly weapon at the time of such entry, he shall be guilty of a Class 2 felony.

§ 18.2-92. Breaking and entering dwelling house with intent to commit other misdemeanor.

If any person break and enter a dwelling house while said dwelling is occupied, either in the day or nighttime, with the intent to commit any misdemeanor except assault and battery or trespass, he shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony. However, if the person was armed with a deadly weapon at the time of such entry, he shall be guilty of a Class 2 felony.

Clear as mud, right?

Notice that I highlighted a brief portion of a sentence in red, and three specific words in blue—“with intent to commit larceny or any felony other than murder, rape, robbery or arson …”I did so to emphasize that robbery is not a portion of, or related to the basic crime of burglary. It is a separate offense.

Burglary and Robbery are not the same!

Okay, still confused when I say that robbery and burglary are not the same crime? You ask, how could this be the case when sooooooooo many TV news reports and fictional television shows time and time again tell us that “Ms. or Mr. Crime Victim’s” house was robbed?

Sit back and clear your mind for a second.

We learned just a few lines back that burglary involves the breaking and entering the house of another, and only a burglar, or burglars, are involved. No forcible taking an item or items from a victim.

Now, on to robbery.

Black’s Law definition of robbery.

“Robbery is the felonious taking of personal property In the possession of another, from his person or immediate presence, and against his will, accomplished by means of force or fear. Pen. Code Cal.”

Traveling back to Virginia, we see that robbery there is:

Virginia Code § 18.2-58. How punished.

If any person commit robbery by partial strangulation, or suffocation, or by striking or beating, or by other violence to the person, or by assault or otherwise putting a person in fear of serious bodily harm, or by the threat or presenting of firearms, or other deadly weapon or instrumentality whatsoever, he shall be guilty of a felony and shall be punished by confinement in a state correctional facility for life or any term not less than five years.In short, robbery is the taking of property by one person from another, by violence, threat, or fear.A robbery could occur anywhere—a street, sidewalk, park, bus, your yard, your neighbor’s yard, a shopping mall, a convenience store, a church and, well, anywhere. And it must involve at least two people—a robber and a victim, or victims.

A burglary, however, occurs only at a building and the victims are typically not present when the crime occurs. If so, they’re usually unaware that their homes have been burgled until after the bad guy is gone. For example, you and your spouse are out for the evening when Joe I. Stealem goes inside your home and swipes a carton of orange juice from your refrigerator. That’s burglary.

However, suppose you and your spouse are walking home from the corner market. You’re clutching a bag containing the carton of orange juice you’d just purchased. As you round the final corner, Ricky Robber approaches and points a gun at you, demanding that you hand over the juice. You comply and Ricky runs away. That’s a robbery because Ricky Robber used threat, fear, and/or intimidation to force you to hand over the orange squeezings.

Most Crime is Not Rocket Science

I believe most of us would agree that many everyday street-type criminals lead somewhat unorganized lives. And, typically, many are not well-educated, their family lives are atypical at best, they couldn’t find work if they wanted to due to low or nonexistent skill levels and/or little or no work history, and they’re often substance abusers who go about their day-to-day activities, labors that consist mainly of planning their next caper, one that’ll reap whatever reward that will get them high once again. Others live in poverty and it is crime that serves to place meager amounts of food into the bellies of their family members. After all, desperate people sometimes do desperate things.

Now, let’s head back to the beginning paragraphs of this article, the bits about burglary. This particular crime is typically committed by both types of crook—the chaotic criminal who kicks in the nearest backdoor to steal whatever nets enough cash to get by until the next day, or until he stumbles across an unlocked window to make a quick grab of a purse seen sitting on a chair-side table.

Next, there’s the expert burglar who plans his crime in advance, perhaps by conducting surveillance for days or weeks prior to committing the actual offense. They’re after the big payoff. The real loot.

The expert crook knows what he’s after long before he enters someone’s property, and he’s pretty sure he knows where it be located and what time is best to make his move. This burglar also has backup plans in the event something doesn’t go quite as they’d expected, as well as pre-planned escape routes and methods to get away. And, most likely, he knows his customer base well in advance (who will purchase the stolen items).

The professional thief practices his craft much like the police academy recruit, by repetition. He trains over and over again so that when the time comes, if it does, that he encounters trouble he will react instinctively to the hurdle before him. They rarely leave behind incriminating evidence such as fingerprints and/or footprints. Nor do they often make other dumb mistakes.

Keep in mind though, Locard’s Exchange Principle, “that every time you make contact with another person, place, or thing, it results in an exchange of physical materials.” In other words, whenever someone enters a place they leave something behind, and when they leave the area they always take something away. This could be something as tiny as a human hair or speck of pollen, but it’s something. All the investigator need do is to locate it. Small bits of soil, for example, once helped me solve a convoluted murder case.

Professional burglars are always looking for good “business” opportunities, and when they find one they weigh the risks as opposed to the rewards. If the risk is too high they’ll move on, because there’s always another fish in the sea. Always.

The day-to-day, opportunistic burglar doesn’t worry much at all about risks. Of course, they’d prefer to not be caught. But hey, why not live in the moment and worry later about tomorrow? That’s the motto of many.

Experts Go For the Gold!

Expert burglars know which rooms in the typical residence will reap the biggest, easy to carry reward at a faster “in-and-out” time, such as a master bedroom where jewelry is often found. The haphazard, unorganized burglar heads for the family room to grab big, bulky televisions and game consoles.

Professional burglars also search for things that could be used for identity theft, such as passports. The chaotic crook may take a credit card, but their train of thought leads them to a big box store to purchase a TV or two, a phone, and maybe a pair or two of tennis shoes. They usually toss the card afterward. Then they’ll trade or sell or trade the stolen merchandise in exchange for cash, drugs, or food. Except the shoes. They’re a status symbol.

Writers such as Lawrence Block capture the two types of burglars quite nicely. Block’s character, burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, is a perfect, textbook example of the professional burglar. The author’s writings nicely depict the mindset of a true expert criminal whose interests closely mimic that of a real-life expert burglar.

How about you? Do you have a favorite fictional burglar? Perhaps a real-life expert burglar comes to mind?

Hi Lee, Nice explanations, but here you’re speaking of what is classified in Indiana as “first-degree burglary,” burglary performed on a dwelling. I was a burglar for some time, but strictly a second-degree burglar, which meant I only broke into businesses. Each state is different, but in Indiana, the primary difference is that it used to be first degree burglary called for a sentence of ten and a quarter and second degree sentences were either two to five or one to ten. I opted for a two-to-five for my sentence (and yes, the criminal got to choose,often.)

The reason there are two degrees and different sentencing is that the reasoning is that breaking into a residence offers a larger chance someone might be present and therefore be at physical risk. Breaking into a bar doesn’t pose the same risks for occupants. Owners are usually home in bed.

I made a conscious choice to be a second-degree burglar. Who wants to risk a ten and a quarter sentence for somebody’s f**ked up TV set?

I was fairly successful. Performed over 400 burglaries and only caught caught twice. I think I was fairly smart. I drove a T-Bird, not some junker, and I usually wore a sports coat. Cops don’t associate those accouterments with burglars. Several times I got off just because of my attire. Once, I broke into a Laundermat in front of two state troopers sitting outside on their cars at 3 in the ayem. Just walked in like I owned the place, broke off the two coin changers on the wall with a tire iron, took them out to my trunk, waved at the officers and left. They waved back…

The only reason I did time was two of my rappies rolled over on me for 84 of our burglaries they’d been with me on. The rest I did by myself. I didn’t cop to them but the cops threatened my girlfriend if I didn’t plead guilty so I did it for her. It was just a couple of years–just part of the price of business-and since I’d committed over 400, I felt I came out ahead of the game. When I got out, I didn’t have a “come to Jesus” moment but kept on committing crimes–just stopped getting caught. I can say that now as the statute of limitations is over. I finally did quit and it was because of age. Much like alcoholism, criminality seems to have a menopause age…

I also did a couple of other things that kept me from getting caught. I rarely worked with anyone else and I never went into a place drunk of high. Only punks need chemical courage… To be honest, the main reason I pulled crimes was for the rush. I also performed armed robberies and strong-arm robberies. Variety…

Anyone interested in the other side of burglary, might want to pick up a copy of my recently-released memoir, ADENALINE JUNKIE. I talk about some of those experiences in it…

A lot has changed since those days–no one took fingerprints or any of that stuff for a burglary. But, this was in the pre-drug days so there was also a bit of honor between thieves and cops in those days. That’s kind of all gone.

Not trying to glamorize crime, just to provide another side of it for a bit of balance.

It’s a crime to break and enter during the daytime; however, it falls under a different code section. There are many different laws concerning this crime. Too many to list here. But I did add the section about which you asked. See above – § 18.2-92. Breaking and entering dwelling house with intent to commit other misdemeanor.

Thanks for bringing it to my attention that I’d forgotten to include it.

I get all twisted when an abduction is called a kidnapping. It makes me crazy. Just saying.

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